Devolution
by LittleBlueNayru
Summary: Zant placed a much more sinister curse on Link at the Lanayru Spring.  Warnings: contains explicit character death and moderate gore; it might deserve an M rating.


Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda.

Okay, so what is up with me spitting out horror/tragedy/general unhappiness lately? I don't know. I'm supposed to be an author of humor, after all. But whatever. This latest baby was inspired by the song "Full Moon", by Sonata Arctica, but it is NOT a songfic. It was also, for a little bit, inspired by the song "Evolution" by KoRn. However, it amazingly was not inspired by "Animal I Have Become", by Three Days Grace, even though that would have been understandable.

Basically, I thought Zant's "curse" on Link in the game was a big joke. Ooh, trapped as a wolf, what a shame. So, this is sort of a "what if" story; what if Zant's curse had been more than just trapping Link in wolf form?

I started this at a reasonable hour in the afternoon and ended it at an unreasonable hour of night, so if you notice a decrease in quality, fear not; I intend to get back to this and polish it up. S.R.H. Fade, I'm still having those adjective issues, sorry.

Although this is rated T, it contains some gore. And characters getting ripped apart and eaten. So if you're going to get queasy, turn back now.

* * *

The dark sky split in two, divided by a blinding bolt. Numerous bright fissures spread across the endless expanse from the jagged crack, deafening thunder overwhelming the southern forests of Hyrule two heartbeats later as the stormy sky shattered in the night. Without the moon, the violent clouds took on monstrous shades; pitch blacks, pale blacks; dark grays and even some sickeningly twisted jades; even flecks of orange in a vague westerly direction, where the sun had set on the searing Gerudo Desert not two hours previously. Warm southern rain pelted down in buckets, slashing at skin as it fell. Even sheltered by the wooden roof of Link's home, Midna felt insecure within warm blankets. Child's baseless fears plagued her, keeping her from sleep. Try as she might, she could not shake the feeling that this storm viciously coincided with sinister forces. But the night and rain gave her no answers, leaving her to lay in Link's kindly-offered bed, single eye glowing in the dark, trying in vain to avoid the fears and questions that tore at her, from outside the sturdy walls of the tree-house to the more twisted hauntings of her own mind.

For reasons unknown to her, the Twilight Princess could not shake her latest encounter with Zelda from her head.

She herself had hardly been conscious or coherent at the time; Lanayru's pale, hollow light had utterly rent her shadowy self to pieces and forcibly bound them back together in a mockery of their rightful nature. What little shadow that remained within her went to war with the overwhelming light, and her body became the battleground; the light burned everything it touched, froze everything it touched; paralyzed it with painful electric jolts, sharp stabbing pains, and throbbing aches which only grew and grew. As Link ran, she felt every single movement of his body painfully; when the frigid downpour began, a thousand stinging knives pierced her every moment, over and over, and Midna seriously considered quitting grabbing for pain-laced breaths in favor of letting it all go. It was with what little strength of will, and great hatred of Zant, that kept her shackled to life. As Link neared Zelda's room, the neverending torture desensitized Midna to her suffering; a little portion of her mind, freakishly high off her torment, detached itself from the present as a calm observer.

This small portion of herself meticulously remembered every breath of that night with cool clarity, dwelling on the Light Princess' words.

_"Please...Please tell me...How do we break... the curse on this one? This.. is the one...You need him... to save your world! That's why... Princess.. Please... You must help Link..."_

Midna had watched with frantic anxiety as Zelda closed her eyes and lifted her hand over Link's head and guided magic over the Sacred Beast. Her Triforce resonated, glowed, but when it neared the spot where Zant's curse had pierced him, her eyes flew open with shock. He skin, already pale, went alabaster.

_Zelda took in a shaky breath, and after a moment, responded with undisguised urgency. "What binds him is a different magic than what transformed him when he first passed the curtain of twilight. It is an evil power. Our world is one of balance... Just as there is light to drive away darkness, so, too, is there benevolence to banish evil." She stared Link right in the eyes, blue on imploring blue. "Head for the Sacred Grove that lies deep within the lands guarded by the spirit Faron. There you will find the blade of evil's bane that was crafted by the wisdom of the ancient sages... the Master Sword. The Master Sword is a sacred blade that evil can never touch. Evil cloaks you like a dark veil...and that blade is the only thing that can cleave it."_

As the storm roared once again, Midna's mind turned back to Zant's curse, worried.

When Zant first cursed him, she had not seen the entirety of the curse and therefore had incomplete knowledge of its nature. By the time she had made her way to Link's side, the rune was over halfway in, much too far in to risk removing it herself, with her limited powers. She could only hope that the bastard usurper let his arrogance and condescension blind his judgment enough so that the curse he placed on Link wouldn't have as much malevolence as she knew Twili curses could hold. Yet as he wandered Hyrule in wolven form, her misgivings grew.

Perhaps panic had thrown away his sense of morality that cold stormy night; so desperate to save his only companion on this lonely, larger-than-life journey that he unconsciously thought _to Hell with mercy_ and lunged with frightening canine grace at anything that moved. Though he had adapted well to his shadow form before under the veil of Twilight, and seemed as at home in his new form as he had his old, now it seemed as though the wolf under the shadow cloak decided to make its debut. The fangs of the alpha male thirsted for blood, any blood, the claws for firm flesh. Blue eyes craved night and the loosening of human restraints. Rippling muscles yearned for use, for wear, for running and fighting and pure unbridled _existence_.

When Link began to tear apart the Skull Kid's puppets with a little too much enthusiasm, she grew worried. No one's life was in danger then; Link had no reason to revel in his kills like one of the mindless monsters he so often dispatched. Midna couldn't help but wonder if she was witnessing the deterioration of hero into villain or something much, much less. With the way he eagerly lunged at the Skull Kid, so _ferally_ growled at the stone guards to the Master Sword's pedestal, and the way they so _coldly_ stared back before recognizing him as their Sacred Beast, the little imp wished for him to hurry, hurry, so she could see what was wrong with him and _fix it._

The Master Sword repelled her; hell, it blasted her backwards with a startled cry, rejecting her very nature, but none of that mattered to her as she righted herself in midair and saw Link prove himself before the blade with a mighty roar. The darkness burst from him and condensed into her waiting hand. With a critical eye, she examined every fissure, every curve and corner, every glowing rune.

What she saw faintly disturbed her.

She had only seen the first part of the curse before; the part that locked Link within his shadow form, bound him completely in darkness. While Link might have been heartbroken at losing his human self, that alone barely qualified as a curse.

No, Zant had cursed Link's mind to slowly erode into the blind compulsion and obedience of his Shadow Messengers.

Midna stared as Link gallantly lifted the sacred blade above his head, very much the epitome of hope and salvation, sent by the Three Goddesses themselves. In her mind's eye another Shadow Messenger, indistinguishable from the rest, gave a paralyzing cry and spread disease and decay throughout the sheltered shrine. That's what would have happened, wasn't it?

In that instant, Midna decided that she would never haunt Link with the knowledge of what he could have become.

She bounded up out of his shadow with her normal enthusiasm, putting Zant's laughable curse on display for Link, with reassurances that due to the Sword breaking the curse, they could now use it for all its worth without worrying about repercussions. With one more good look for good measure, Midna saw that the malevolent lines no longer glowed with power.

Now, though, in the darkness, Midna wondered if she had been wrong.

It would be a lie to say that she didn't mind turning Link into a wolf. She hesitated a fraction of a second more each time, and was all too glad to remove the stone from his head when he desired. Every time he turned into a wolf, he seemed to let himself go a little more; surrender a little bit more to the wolf within, let his instincts lead him a little more. The hike up Snowpeak had been a nightmare for Midna; desperately clinging on to black fur, the only spot of color amidst the white swirls of snow, blind to the path Link so effortlessly followed, by wolf-sense alone.

If this kept up...

Midna threw Link's charitably donated blankets off her and hopped out of his bed. Link himself had offered to sleep on the floor by the door near the fire; this way, they would both be warm and get to sleep. Slowly, she glided over the ladders and made her way down to the first floor of Link's home.

The blankets lay on the ground, haphazardly thrown aside. His Master Sword lay beside his Hylian Shield, safe in its sheath. The strange brown pouch that inexplicably held all his equipment, clothes, and potions lay half-hidden under his discarded Ordon Shield.

"Link?" Midna called. Perhaps he had simply gone into the basement, or the next room.

Silence answered her.

Midna shivered with foreboding at the lack of response. She stared out the windows, looking at the storm beyond the panes. The trees surrounding Link's house waved wildly in the gale-force winds, leaves and branches whipping erratically every which way. Sheets of rain continued to pour from the heavens, making it nearly impossible to see anything on the glass' soaked surface. Besides the trees, Midna could see only wicked lightning in the night.

Link was out there somewhere, defenseless.

What the hell possessed him to go out in _this_?

Midna turned to the door to hunt her wolf down when something made her freeze. Her hand paused in midair, reaching for the knob. With a wide glowing eye she saw five soft scratch marks marring the door. Violent nausea settled in her stomach, sent her panicking.

..._Oh._ _That_.

For a moment more, Midna remained still, reaching out towards the defaced door with shock on her features. Then, as if jolted back to her senses, she flew at the door, yanked it open roughly, and glided out into the cold, inhospitable night, battered by wind and rain as she made her way into Ordon Village.

A cursory scan of Ordon told her that Link had not fled to the village. The Ordon Spring was empty, too, and Midna's heart raced with fear. Link had left Ordon altogether, without telling her, without weapons, in the middle of a stormy night. This couldn't be... Zant's curse had been neutralized, hadn't it...?

Midna darted along the bridge connecting the Ordon and Faron provinces, not bothering to look down and wonder what was at the bottom too far away to see. She pulled out the curse and glanced at it again.

All the lines glowed.

Midna felt her heart skip several beats before willing herself to move faster, _faster_, pulling power out of her Fused Shadow helm.

Faron Woods no longer gave off an aura of serenity, not even a cold kind synonymous with night. The cold and the slowing rain had utterly washed such feelings away, but had not gotten rid of the several bloodied corpses of small wood animals. Three rabbits, a mother and two bunnies, lay scattered along the path. Blood congealed along one bunny's entire left flank. The second bunny was missing an ear and right forepaw; both lay in the grass several feet away. The mother...

Well, only her lower half remained. White vertebrae protruded from a crimson mess of fur, muscle, and intestines. A freak flash of lighting illuminated her torn stomach, her dislocated bones.

Midna backed away from the sight, only to freeze as a man's terrified scream echoed in the night. Terrified, Midna raced towards the noise, heart dropping with every step taken forward. This trail of hopeless begging and half-wild snarls was leading her to... leading her to...

Coro's remaining eye stared into the night lifelessly. The other half of his face had been violently torn open. His other, mutilated eye hung out of its socket slightly, allowing a stream of bloody tears to pour down his face, along with some unidentifiable yellow pus, and what looked like froth. His hair, usually an even poof, was matted in every direction by water, blood, and bodily fluids Midna didn't care to name. Blood spilled lightly out of his mouth. His right arm leaked red, half of the flesh and skin torn off it at a peculiar angle. His other arm was thankfully intact, but twisted in all the wrong directions. The elbow bent backwards, bone snapping, wrist jutting out to the left, fingers twitching. Long ribbons of red decorated his round stomach, always in groups of five. The right leg had split open at the knee and lolled uselessly off to the side of the reclining, broken body, while the left sagged as the weight of the upper body further distorted Coro's sitting position; the muscles that would have supported him were strewn, shredded, along the ground. One of the birds that often perched on his head lay at his feet in a twisted mess.

Bile filled Midna's throat and overflowed, adding to the mess of the clearing.

A few minutes later, the imp's retching and gasping finally subsided as her stomach emptied itself of contents. In vain, the Twilight Princess tried to control her shaking breath and runaway heartbeat, shuddering with repulsion as she stared at the mess before her. A corner of her mind, detached yet again from her suffering, noted that the rain had slowed and quietly faded, that lightning no longer lit up the sky so brilliantly, that the thunder was now empty, reassuring rumbles. Then she heard snuffling in the bushes. Heavy breathing, groans and whimpers.

Her eyes widened with fear as she pushed herself up with shaking arms and legs. Unsteadily, she lifted herself into the air, slowly hovering over to the noises. "L-link?"

Link whipped his head around.

Something wild and frantic pulsated in his bright blue gaze. A madness he was aware of, that had not yet claimed him, ate away at his sanity, driving him to panic. He stared at Midna with wide eyes before recognition lit within them, and his stare grew all the more fearful for it. Blood surrounded his mouth, blood that Midna had a sick feeling did not belong to him. Droplets of it dotted his dirty-blond hair and the rim of his silly green cap, as well, and the front of his tunic and the formerly brown leather of his boots and gauntlets... well, those were a different story altogether. Strands of blond, brown, and black hair littered the ground around where Link knelt in pain and fright, on top of the grass he polluted with crimson. Midna took in a harsh breath as she gazed at him, unconsciously backing up.

On his forehead, the same mark that appeared on his head in wolf form lay branded in black. Maybe it was a trick of Coro's now-useless firelight, but Midna swore that thin orange lines glowed within the spiral markings. However, Link's left hand claimed her attention as he lifted it, with five bloodied digits, to cover his eye, shaking uncontrollably.

Fur and claws sprouted along his fingers, and the Triforce proudly emblazoned on the back of his left hand was now surrounded by black fur along a half-human arm. The chain Midna had been unable to remove from his paw at their first meeting materialized on his wrist, as if a sickening reminder to the duo that Link could never escape the Twilight within him, forever a prisoner of the darkness and all its malevolence.

Petrified tears welled up in Midna's eyes as she stared hopelessly at her closest friend. "Link...!"

"Midna," Link choked out, wide eyes fixed on Midna with panic, urgency, begging. "R-run..."

Midna stepped forward, reaching out.

Something within Link snapped.

Before Midna could comprehend what was happening, Link was on her. Thrown roughly to the ground, lying on her back out of breath. Fingernails- no, those were _claws_, good Goddesses- raked from her right shoulder down to her stomach. Just as the first whispers of pain reached Midna's mind, Link gasped, grabbed his half-transformed hand with his other, and ran off into the night.

Pushing herself up hurt her right arm. Lifeblood leaked out of her shoulder, causing the rest of the arm to tremble with the weight she placed on it. Common sense screamed at her from within, _run, run!_ And Midna found herself unable to listen to it. Foolishly, she lifted herself into the air again and flew after Link, grimacing as the scratch marks began to burn and throb, as the cool night air whipped it raw second after second. Going on instinct alone, she followed the path Link had taken, out of the woods onto Hyrule Field.

In her panic, Midna paid no attention to anything but the quickly escaping figure of Link at the edge of her vision, a silhouette of darkness amid darkness. The Bulbins growled at her and charged slowly, losing interest as soon as the imp outpaced them.

So suddenly, Midna burst from the cover of trees onto the open air of Hyrule Field, pursuing Link, the distance between them always increasing. Midna urged herself to go faster, faster, screaming at the top of her lungs. This only seemed to make Link go faster, then make Midna go faster. She couldn't allow that curse to overtake him, she had to do something, save him, just stop the curse, so that she might save him, herself, Hyrule... The Kargarocs in the sky screeched at the pair, the Bokoblins brandished clumsy machetes at them, the Stalhounds crawled up from the dirt in preparation for their anticipated feast, and none of it mattered because Link was slowing, hunched over, _changing_.

He had reached the top of a small knoll on the plains, and paused to kneel as a wave of pain overcame him. This was nothing like his usual transformations. That first one had hurt like holy hell, sure, but every time after that was a slight shifting, a moment of discomfort, and it was all over. And it was never this agonizingly _slow_, nor did it ever give him this much fear. Somehow, Link knew that if he were to become a wolf now, he could never go back. He gasped for breath, groaned as his hands became paws and his face elongated into a snout, his hair grew longer and darker, from blond to black. Through the pain and carnal attack on his sane human mind, he saw Midna rapidly gliding towards him, orange eye full of fear and comfort as she approached, and the red haze brought his vision in and out of focus and he wanted to _kill her_ NO he had to warn her _Midna turn back...run..._

As the clouds parted and revealed a full pearl moon, Link's back straightened as he knelt, stiffened by a paralyzing pain. His snout-human face flew back, paw-hands itching at empty air. Far past the point of using words to communicate, the Sacred Beast and Chosen Hero went to war within Link's body, uttering a guttural, screaming howl, half-human, half-wolf, and completely filled with pain, despair, insanity.

The Hero's tunic disappeared within folds of shadows as fur burst from Link's now bestial body. Bones cracked, joints shifted, muscles realigned, and the last thing Link knew before the darkness of carnal instincts and animal ignorance was pain, pain, neverending pain.

For her part, Midna nearly threw up again as Link screamed and _mutated_, illuminated perfectly by the moon that just now dared bathe the land in its mockery of light. Tears filled her eyes as she saw him fall, wolf-shaped, to the ground, knowing that she had lost her best friend and all her fights and any chance of saving her world and theirs. Stunned and utterly defeated, she sank to the ground, falling to her knees as her brilliant tears fell to the ground. "Link..."

No, not Link anymore. Link was gone. All that remained was his hollow beast form.

The wolf's ears twitched. It stood up and shook the grass and dirt out of its dark coat, sharp eyes scanning the plain. Many monsters guarded the field, but took no interest in him. After all, together they were servants of evil.

Then he spied dark horns, flaming hair, green glowing skin.

All except that one. The beast lunged.

Midna was once again taken off guard by Link snarling, and before she had a chance to even look up, a wolf's teeth had sunk into her already injured shoulder, fully wolven claws tearing at her sides, her back, her face, and everything was burning and throbbing again and oh Goddesses why this again it _hurt_-

With a pained scream, Midna sent a wave of magic out from her center, blasting Link back. Gasping for breath, Midna heaved herself up off the ground and sped away, trying her best to ignore the chunk of flesh now missing from her shoulder, feeling every heartbeat as more of her glistening blood escaped her.

Growling and the rhythmic thumping of paws made her lift herself higher into the air, though it drained her of magic even more. If she could just get far enough away that Link couldn't reach her, she would be safe, and she could heal herself...

If she could just get to Lanayru's Spring, she would be safe.

_run away run away run away_

A bark, heavy paws on her shoulders, teeth ripping the back of her neck apart. Screaming, flailing arms as claws marked every inch of skin they could reach. It seemed fate had other plans for the pair than their success. Midna kicked desperately as powerful jaws ripped at a portion of her right cheek, tearing off the flesh. She screamed again, in agony, as the wolf got fed up with the annoyance and ripped off part of her left leg below her knee, the bones crunching and twisting as wicked curved fangs pried them apart. Midna watched with paralyzed terror as the beast that had once been Link munched on her now-detached leg, bits of blood and flesh messily hanging out of his mouth. An aching sob tore from her throat as the wolf swallowed he leg and resumed his attack, biting off more than half of her left hand. She struggled and screamed and yanked her arm violently within his mouth, but blinding pain took over once again as she felt the lower part separate from the bottom and allow yet more blood to flow free. It was at this point amid the agony that Midna's detached self wondered how she managed to hold onto life even with claws tearing into her and blood pouring out. She was almost literally swimming in her own blood, and she lived still.

But not for long, she knew. Even as the thought came to her, her heart stuttered, hesitated to beat. Unbidden, her muscles relaxed, and the wolf continued to feast upon them; taking off the rest of her arm, the rest of her left leg; working on her right arm and leg with barely a twitch of resistance. Midna fought for each small breath, each weak heartbeat, as blood streamed from her. Wearily, she turned her eye to her stomach, where the wolf had torn inside and began feasting on her innards. "I.. forgive you, Link... you're my... best.. friend..."

A flash of blue eyes. Midna almost wished she saw a different color in the irises, just so she wouldn't be tricked one last time into thinking this was Link.

A snarl. The one she had wanted directed at Zant.

A slash, ruining her eye.

Fangs at her throat.

Pain, pain, pain.

And one last failed thump of a decrepit heart.

* * *

The ivory heads of three Goddesses decorated the floor of the Hyrule Castle throne room.

The Usurper King Ganondorf laid his hand upon the soft head of a pitch black wolf with blue eyes that once bore the proud crest of the Goddesses. It satisfied him all the more to see the entire triangle glowing with the hand he used to stroke the former puppet of fate.

Upon his head rested a helm of shadow, with four prongs, the other two parts of the armor hidden away. Above him, the former Princess' lifeless body slept forever within the giant Triforce.

The King of Evil smiled as he stared out at the land that was his, now and forever.

"Good dog."

* * *

Author has issues.

The dead bunny thing? Yeah, totally my dog's fault. I let her out into the yard one day, and I hear her barking, and assume it's just a squirrel or somebody walking by or something. Then a few minutes later I see her licking something out in the backyard, so I think, "fuck," and run outside, scolding her and tugging her away from whatever it is. "Whatever it is" turned out to be the bloody bottom half of a rabbit.

Aren't dogs cute? :D

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's instinct and all that jazz...

Last scene: Link lost his mind, delivered the Fused Shadow to Ganondorf, and became his wolf-pet-thing. Which paints an evil, sinister, depressing, and pretty awesome picture.

I'm going to sleep now, Goodnight.


End file.
